India will generate 100 GW of solar power by 2022, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of achieving 100 GW (gigawatt) of solar power by 2022, out of the total 175 GW the country plans to produce from renewable sources. This was announced at the International Solar Alliance Summit here on Sunday.

“In India, we have started the world’s largest renewable energy expansion programme. We will generate 175 GW of electricity from renewable sources of energy by 2022, of which, 100 GW will be from solar power. We have already achieved 20 GW installed solar power,” Modi said, inaugurating the Summit that was co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

It was announced at the summit that a Project Preparation Facility (PPF) has been set up by India to assist its development partner countries towards preparation of viable projects that can be considered for concessional financing under Lines of Credit. The PPF fills the capacity gap in identifying a need, conceiving a project and preparing a proper proposal.

President Macron, who is on a four-day visit to India, highlighted that to generate 1 TW (terawatt) of solar power by 2030, as envisaged under the ISA, a funding corpus of $1 trillion will be required even as he underlined financial and regulatory hurdles within the member countries for achieving the target.

Macron also said that the French Development Agency will allocate €700 million in additional spending to its commitment to solar energy by 2022, taking the total commitment to €1 billion.

“But in order to reach the $1,000 billion by 2030, to reach the 1TW of solar energy, we need private investors. It means that we will improve the regulations, the terms in order to support investments in renewable. It is also about improving public procurement and to provide efficient policies,” he said.

He also urged countries to facilitate purchase and supply of electricity generated from solar energy.

According to the Delhi Solar Agenda, which was released after the summit was over, the ISA will facilitate “affordable finance, access to appropriate, clean and environment-friendly technology and undertake capacity building, including forging mutually beneficial partnerships with reputable international institutions and reputable financial institutions for the benefit of developing countries.”

It also vowed to “explore innovative financing mechanisms that can generate a sustainable market for the deployment of cost effective solar technologies, coupled with constructive policy initiatives to catalyse public and private investments to reduce the cost of solar projects in developing countries.”

The member countries also agreed to facilitate joint R&D efforts to develop appropriate business models, cost-effective standards, innovative technical applications, equipment and storage designs to suit members’ climatic conditions and to realise clean and low-cost operations.

“First and foremost, we have to ensure that better and affordable solar technology is available to all and accessible to everyone. We need to increase the proportion of solar power in our energy mix,” Modi said.

The ISA is a treaty-based coalition of 121 solar resource rich countries, which are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, created to address their special energy needs and will provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach.

India will contribute $27 million to the ISA for creating the corpus, building infrastructure and recurring expenditure over a five-year duration from 2016-17 to 2020-21. In addition, public sector undertakings of the government — Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) — have contributed $1 million each for creating the ISA corpus fund.

The Summit was attended by 23 heads of state and several other top level officials form many countries.